ChemInform Abstract: Multifaceted Zirconate Complexes in Organic Synthesis

Abstract

Abstract An ate complex is a salt in which the central atom increases its valence or coordination number and becomes anionic. A significant reaction by the ate complexes is a strong nucleophilicity toward electrophiles to form new chemical bonds, which may lead to useful one-pot synthetic methods for building complex molecules. Zirconocene complexes can have a metal center with 14–18 electrons and a coordination number of 3–5. The 14-electron and 16-electron zirconocene complexes have been explored extensively and many applications have been developed in synthetic chemistry. Zirconate complexes with an 18-electron configuration and five-coordinated number have a higher likelihood of forming new C C bonds. The present review concentrates on the zirconate complexes used in organic synthesis. When zirconate complexes are treated with p-chloranil, aldehydes, chloroformates, esters, cinnamates, allyl bromides, or chlorophosphines, they undergo different types of reactions and various organic products are formed in an efficient manner.